If you’re scratching your head over the latest war of words between Andrew Little and John Key, you’re not the only one. Both have been talking about Maori sovereignty, and the implications of the Waitangi Tribunal’s decision that the Northern tribes did not cede sovereignty (supreme authority) when they signed the Treaty of Waitangi. If […]

On Campbell Live last night we saw a shocking example of two dairy farmers flouting the rules and polluting our waterways with effluent. Thanks to the brave farm hands who dobbed in their bosses, they are rightly having the book thrown at them. Farmers take their environmental responsibility seriously, and will no doubt be upset […]

At Waitangi Andrew Little plunged into the freshwater debate, and quickly waded into trouble. Exclaiming that water must not be traded as a commodity makes for a neat sound bite, but doesn’t stand up to scrutiny, much like John Key’s claim that nobody owns water. The fact is that the horse has already bolted – […]

Speech to Maori Council, Waitangi, Feb 5th 2015 Over the last month we have released a book, written four articles in the NZH, and delivered 4 speeches – all of which present conclusions we’ve come to as a result of a 5 year study into the place of the Treaty of Waitangi in contemporary NZ […]

It’s easy to think the Treaty of Waitangi is something only lawyers need to think about. But that’s a mistake. It relates to all of us and is always going to be part of our lives. Today I hope to explain why. The Treaty sets the bar for how New Zealanders acknowledge and respect each […]

Some, including the Green Party, have questioned the wisdom of the Government’s proposed sale of state houses. In this blog we will look at the detail on how this proposal has worked overseas, and could work here. The question them becomes why the left, and the Green Party in particular, are so ideologically allergic to […]

As some of you may be aware I have recently kicked off a project to engage wider New Zealand in a conversation on the treaty. It is an honour to be invited here today to present the second of three speeches that communicate and build on the work that Susan Guthrie and I spent over […]

John Key’s state of the nation speech promised to sell off state houses (1,000-2,000 this year, 8,000 by 2017) and boost the number of social housing subsidies. This has prompted the usual bleats from the political left, but we needn’t be worried. The voluntary sector has a good record of running social housing overseas, and […]

We have long written that the problem in NZ’s housing market, which more and more people are finally acknowledging, is a crisis, is a crisis of demand not of supply. Central to the causation of inflated demand are two factors. Firstly a terrible flaw in our taxation regime, wherein housing is one of the best […]

Since we have started the Whiteboard Fridays/Wednesday we have been talking a lot about capital taxes, universal basic incomes and flat taxes. Several people have asked what in means for them. In this Whiteboard Wednesday video, Geoff talks us through how the ideas in The Big Kahuna. We have also made this handy calculator, so you […]